Microsoft's 360 avatars are looking a little on the portly side, because come the release of Kinect in November, they're in for a little redesign.

Why? It's because of Kinect. Rare, the developers behind the avatars, say the motion-sensing camera has been causing problems for users when playing a game where their actions were replicated on-screen by an avatar.

It's not a technical issue with the camera; instead, it's apparently an issue with player perception, because the avatar's pudgy little cartoon proportions aren't like those of our more elongated selves. So people's hand-eye coordination in certain games "broke".

Nick Burton, senior programmer at Rare, says the new avatars will be a little more realistic.